So I love maple, and have been thinking of doing a maple wine that is dry and about 12%, BUT as any one who has been fallowing any of my posts knows I also like lower ABV creations that are carbonated and on the sweet side like a "winecooler" AND I LOVE to experiment so I have decided I am going to do two new batches both with Maple. Before coming up with these recipes I did a bunch of research and then a little test yesterday
Maple wine 1 gallon
36 oz Kirkland real maple syrup (contains 954g of sugar)
2.875 quarts of water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/2 pack Montrachet yeast
Based on the grams of sugar on the bottle by letting it ferment out dry my final ABV should be around 12.5% but I will also take a hydrometer reading after I put it all together so I can know for sure.
The second recipe came about due to the "experiment" I mention above and in the title. I was not sure if I wanted to add any acid blend to the wine or not so I mixed some syrup with water in a ratio of 1 parts syrup to 3 parts water, and tasted it. I could not believe how good it was!!! It was way to sweet, BUT looking past the sweetness the maple flavor was fantastic and with a little carbonation it would have made an excellent pop. This got me thinking it would also make a good sweet "winecooler" ??? Anyway to finish my story I added a splash of lemon juice and tasted it again ignoring the sweetness and trying to get an idea of how it would be as a dry wine. I did this to see if the acidy added to the beverage or detracted from it, and for a dry wine it made sense. The tart note was nice but the citrus note from the lemon was a little bit disconnected from the maple flavor, shouldn't be an issue with the acid blend because I am not adding that much and the citric acid is less prominent due to the balanced nature of the three acids together. The tartness however detracted from the maple flavor that I wanted for the "winecooler" so that batch will not be getting any acid blend.
Maple delight
28 oz Kirkland real maple syrup (contains 742g of sugar)
3.375 quarts of water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 pack Montrachet yeast
The process on this beverage will be a little different. 18oz or 2.25 cups of syrup will be mixed with the water and nutrient, then after the yeast has been pitched be allowed to ferment out dry. Once the must begins to clear I will back sweeten with the remaining 10 oz of syrup, bottle carbonate and pasteurize. The final result should be a lightly sweet beverage with a nice amount of carbonation and a little kick.
Based on the grams of sugar on the bottle by letting it ferment out dry my final ABV should be just above 6% but again I will also take a hydrometer reading after I put it all together so I can know for sure.
I should note that Costco sells its syrup in 32 oz bottles and I plan on taking 1/2 cup or 4 oz from the "winecooler" bottle of syrup to supplement the wine recipe. I did this because my research indicates that aging is extremely important with maple wine so I wanted the ABV to be over 12% so I could age it longer.
so what do you think??? anything I should do differently??
#tag#winecoolers, hard soda, hard lemonade & more
Maple wine 1 gallon
36 oz Kirkland real maple syrup (contains 954g of sugar)
2.875 quarts of water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/2 pack Montrachet yeast
Based on the grams of sugar on the bottle by letting it ferment out dry my final ABV should be around 12.5% but I will also take a hydrometer reading after I put it all together so I can know for sure.
The second recipe came about due to the "experiment" I mention above and in the title. I was not sure if I wanted to add any acid blend to the wine or not so I mixed some syrup with water in a ratio of 1 parts syrup to 3 parts water, and tasted it. I could not believe how good it was!!! It was way to sweet, BUT looking past the sweetness the maple flavor was fantastic and with a little carbonation it would have made an excellent pop. This got me thinking it would also make a good sweet "winecooler" ??? Anyway to finish my story I added a splash of lemon juice and tasted it again ignoring the sweetness and trying to get an idea of how it would be as a dry wine. I did this to see if the acidy added to the beverage or detracted from it, and for a dry wine it made sense. The tart note was nice but the citrus note from the lemon was a little bit disconnected from the maple flavor, shouldn't be an issue with the acid blend because I am not adding that much and the citric acid is less prominent due to the balanced nature of the three acids together. The tartness however detracted from the maple flavor that I wanted for the "winecooler" so that batch will not be getting any acid blend.
Maple delight
28 oz Kirkland real maple syrup (contains 742g of sugar)
3.375 quarts of water
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 pack Montrachet yeast
The process on this beverage will be a little different. 18oz or 2.25 cups of syrup will be mixed with the water and nutrient, then after the yeast has been pitched be allowed to ferment out dry. Once the must begins to clear I will back sweeten with the remaining 10 oz of syrup, bottle carbonate and pasteurize. The final result should be a lightly sweet beverage with a nice amount of carbonation and a little kick.
Based on the grams of sugar on the bottle by letting it ferment out dry my final ABV should be just above 6% but again I will also take a hydrometer reading after I put it all together so I can know for sure.
I should note that Costco sells its syrup in 32 oz bottles and I plan on taking 1/2 cup or 4 oz from the "winecooler" bottle of syrup to supplement the wine recipe. I did this because my research indicates that aging is extremely important with maple wine so I wanted the ABV to be over 12% so I could age it longer.
so what do you think??? anything I should do differently??
#tag#winecoolers, hard soda, hard lemonade & more
